Tuning In: Tim Daggett makes gymnastics sound so simple

If Tim Daggett ever needed a reminder to keep his analysis simple during national television coverage of gymnastics, he could always watch figure skating.

Gymnastics and figure skating have to be the two most popular sports on television that most viewers don't really understand. The moves and spins are athletic and artistic, but too technical for many viewers to decipher.

That's where Daggett comes in. A member of the 1984 Olympic gold medal men's gymnastics team, Daggett understands all the nuances of each routine, but he realizes that many viewers don't. So he'll do his best during NBC's live coverage of the American Cup at the DCU Center from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday to explain what's going on, but will avoid getting too technical so the casual viewers won't get lost.

“If I was explaining or commentating for the gymnastics community,” he said, “it would sound completely different, and I never want to fall into that trap.”

Daggett watches figure skating on television during the Olympics and admits he doesn't know all the nuances of it. So he relies on the commentators to explain things like he does in gymnastics.

“And sometimes I still don't understand what they said,” Daggett admitted with a laugh.

The same production crews work gymnastics and figure skating for NBC. David Michaels, older brother of “Sunday Night Football” announcer Al Michaels, is executive producer and director for both sports. He'll be in Worcester Saturday.

One move on the parallel bars is well known in the gymnastics community as simply a Diomidov because former Soviet gymnast Sergey Diomidov first performed it. Daggett, however, realizes that many viewers don't know that, so he explains the move on the air.

“It's a lot more technical than this,” he said, “but if I were setting it up for the viewer, I would say, 'He's in this beautiful handstand and he's going to swing his body down and he's going to spin on one arm and land right back in that handstand with two arms again.' The gymnastics people roll their eyes because they're like, 'He's swinging down and doing a Diomidov.' But I'm trying to explain it to the novice.”

Daggett, 50, has traveled the world analyzing gymnastics in the last six Olympic Games for NBC, but on Saturday he'll be only about an hour from his home in East Longmeadow. Daggett grew up in West Springfield before competing for UCLA. After living in L.A. for nearly a decade, he returned to Massachusetts to be close to family and live a less hectic life. He also missed the changing of the seasons.

Daggett owns a gymnastics center in Agawam, which has produced national champions and senior national team members and helped 30 students receive full athletic scholarships to college. His 15-year-old son, Peter, was a member of the junior national team last year and hopes to make it again this summer.

Two years ago in the USA Gymnastics state championships, Peter Daggett became the second member of his family to score a perfect 10 on the high bar.

His father did it to clinch the team gold medal for the U.S. in the 1984 Olympics, but he didn't think about that when he watched his son score his 10.

“He's my son and he's the priority,” Daggett said. “I'm just the old guy now.”

Daggett was standing under the high bar coaching his son during the perfect routine, but afterward he couldn't resist giving his son his play-by-play as a joke.

The American Cup is an all-around competition that features former and future male and female Olympians.

Daggett won the American Cup men's title in Indianapolis in 1985. He has analyzed each American Cup for NBC since 1989, including the 2010 competition at the DCU Center.

Needham's Aly Raisman, captain of the women's Olympic gold medal gymnastics team in London last year, burst onto the national scene when she finished second in the 2010 American Cup. Daggett wouldn't be surprised if Katelyn Ohashi of Plano, Texas, or Simone Biles of Spring, Texas, did the same on Saturday. Both will be competing in their first international competition as seniors.

Daggett considers defending American Cup champion and 2012 Olympic all-around bronze medalist Danell Leyva of Miami to be the favorite among the men, even though Olympic all-around silver medalist Marcel Nguyen of Germany is also in the field.

Contact Bill Doyle at wdoyle@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15.